III. THAT GOD
IS, AND OUGHT TO BE, AN ABSOLUTE AND UNIVERSAL SOVEREIGN.

I. What is
not intended by the term "sovereignty" when applied to God.

It is not
intended, at least by me, that God, in any instance, wills or acts
arbitrarily, or without good reasons; reasons so good and so
weighty, that he could in no case act otherwise than he does,
without violating the law of his own intelligence and conscience,
and consequently without sin. Any view of divine sovereignty that
implies arbitrariness on the part of the divine will, is not only
contrary to scripture, but is revolting to reason, and
blasphemous. God cannot act arbitrarily, in the sense of
unreasonably, without infinite wickedness. For him to be
arbitrary, in the sense of unreasonable, would be a wickedness as
much greater than any creature is capable of committing, as his
reason or knowledge is greater than theirs. This must be
self-evident. God should therefore never be represented as a
sovereign, in the sense that implies that he is actuated by self
or arbitrary will, rather than by his infinite intelligence.

Many seem to
me to represent the sovereignty of God as consisting in a
perfectly arbitrary disposal of events. They seem to conceive of
God as being wholly above and without, any law or rule of action
guiding his will by his infinite reason and conscience. They
appear shocked at the idea of God himself being the subject of
moral law, and are ready to inquire, Who gives law to God? They
seem never to have considered that God is, and must be, a law unto
himself; that he is necessarily omniscient, and that the divine
reason must impose law on, or prescribe law to, the divine will.
They seem to regard God as living wholly above law, and as
disposed to have his own will at any rate, reasonable or
unreasonable; to set up his own arbitrary pleasure as his only
rule of action, and to impose this rule upon all his subjects.
This sovereignty they seem to conceive of as controlling and
disposing of all events, with an iron or adamantine fatality,
inflexible, irresistible, omnipotent. "Who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will." This text they dwell much
upon, as teaching that God disposes all events absolutely, not
according to his own infinite wisdom and discretion, but simply
according to his own will; and, as their language would often seem
to imply, without reference at all to the universal law of
benevolence. I will not say, that such is the view as it lies in
their own mind; but only that from the language they use, such
would seem to be their idea of divine sovereignty. Such, however,
is not the view of this subject which I shall state and defend on
the present occasion.

II. What
is intended by divine sovereignty.

The
sovereignty of God consists in the independence of his will, in
consulting only his own intelligence and discretion, in the
selection of his end, and the means of accomplishing it. In other
words, the sovereignty of God is nothing else than infinite
benevolence directed by infinite knowledge. God consults no one in
respect to what shall be done by him. He asks no leave to do and
require what his own wisdom dictates. He consults only himself;
that is, his own infinite intelligence. So far is he from being
arbitrary in his sovereignty, in the sense of unreasonable, that
he is invariably guided by infinite reason. He consults his own
intelligence only, not from any arbitrary disposition, but because
his knowledge is perfect and infinite, and therefore it is safe
and wise to take counsel nowhere else. It were infinitely
unreasonable, and weak, and wicked in God to ask leave of any
being to act in conformity with his own judgment. He must make his
own reason his rule of action. God is a sovereign, not in the
sense that he is not under law, or that he is above all law, but
in the sense that he is a law to himself; that he knows no law but
what is given him by his own reason. In other words still, the
sovereignty of God consists in such a disposal of all things and
events, as to meet the ideas of his own reason, or the demands of
his own intelligence. "He works all things after the counsel of
his own will," in the sense that he formed and executes his own
designs independently; in the sense that he consults only his own
infinite discretion; that is, he acts according to his own views
of propriety and fitness. This he does, be it distinctly
understood, without at all setting aside the freedom of moral
agents. His infinite knowledge enabled him to select an end and
means, that should consist with and include the perfect freedom of
moral agents. The subjects of his moral government are free to
obey or disobey, and take the consequences. But foreseeing
precisely in all cases how they would act, he has laid his plan
accordingly, so as to bring out the contemplated and desired
results. In all his plans he consulted none but himself. But this
leads me to say--

III. That
God is and ought to be an absolute and a universal sovereign.

By absolute,
I mean, that his expressed will, in obedience to his reason, is
law. It is not law because it proceeds from his arbitrary will,
but because it is the revelation or declaration of the
affirmations and demands of his infinite reason. His expressed
will is law, because it is an infallible declaration of what is
intrinsically fit, suitable, right. His will does not make the
things that he commands, right, fit, proper, obligatory, in the
sense, that should he require it, the opposite of what he now
requires would he fit, proper, suitable, obligatory; but in the
sense that we need no other evidence of what is in itself
intrinsically proper, fit, obligatory, than the expression of his
will. Our reason affirms, that what he wills must be right; not
because he wills it, but that he wills it because it is right, or
obligatory in the nature of things; that is, our reason affirms
that he wills as he does, only upon condition, that his infinite
intelligence affirms that such willing is intrinsically right, and
therefore he ought to will or command just what he does.

He is a
sovereign in the sense that his will is law, whether we are able
to see the reason for his commands or not, because our reason
affirms that he has and must have good and sufficient reasons for
every command; so good and sufficient, that he could not do
otherwise than require what he does, under the circumstances,
without violating the law of his own intelligence. We therefore
need no other reason for affirming our obligation to will and to
do, than that God requires it; because we always and necessarily
assume, as a first truth of reason, that what God requires must be
right, not because he arbitrarily wills it, but because he does
not arbitrarily will it: on the contrary that he has, and must
have in every instance, infinitely good and wise reasons for every
requirement.

Some persons
represent God as a sovereign, in the sense, that his arbitrary
will is the foundation of obligation. But if this is so, he could
in every instance render the directly opposite course from what he
now requires, obligatory. But this is absurd. The persons just
mentioned seem to think, that unless it be admitted that God's
will is the foundation of obligation, it will follow that it does
not impose obligation, unless he discloses the reasons for his
requirements. But this is a great mistake. Our own reason affirms
that God's expressed will is always law, in the sense that it
invariably declares the law of nature, or discloses the decisions
of his own reason.

God must and
ought to be an absolute sovereign in the sense just defined. This
will appear if we consider:--

1. That his
end was chosen and the means decided upon, when no being but
himself existed, and of course, there was no one to consult but
himself.

2. Creation
and providence are only the results, and the carrying out of his
plans settled from eternity.

3. The law of
benevolence, as it existed in the divine reason, must have
eternally demanded of him the very course he has taken.

4. His
highest glory and the highest good of universal being demand, that
he should consult his own discretion, and exercise an absolute and
a universal sovereignty, in the sense explained. Infinite wisdom
and goodness ought of course to act independently in the promotion
of their end. If infinite wisdom or knowledge is not to give law,
what or who shall? If infinite benevolence shall not declare and
enforce law, what or who shall? God's attributes and relations
render it obligatory upon him to exercise just that holy
sovereignty we have ascribed to him.

(1.) This
sovereignty, and no other, he claims for himself.

Job xxiii.
13: "But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his
soul desireth, even that he doeth."

Job xxxiii.
13: "Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account
of any of his matters."

Ps. cxxxv. 6:
"Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth,
in the seas, and all deep places."

Isa. lv. 10:
"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring
forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to
the eater; 11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my
mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I
sent it."

Dan. iv. 35:
"And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and
he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say
unto him, What doest thou?"

Matt. xi. 25:
"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26. Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."

Matt. xx. 12:
"Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made
them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the
day. 13. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee
no wrong; didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14. Take that
thine is, and go thy way; I will give unto this last, even as unto
thee. 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?
Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16. So the last shall be
first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen."

Rom. ix. 15:
"For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. 17. For the scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee
up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth. 18. Therefore hath he mercy on
whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth."

Eph. i. 11:
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will."

Phil. ii. 13:
"For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his
good pleasure."

(2.) Again:
God claims for himself all the prerogatives of an absolute and a
universal sovereign, in the sense already explained. For example,
he claims to be the rightful and sole proprietor of the universe.

1 Chron.
xxix. 11: "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the
glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the
heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and thou art exalted as head above all."

Ps. l. 10:
"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a
thousand hills; 11. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the
wild beasts of the field are mine. 12. If I were hungry, I would
not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof."

Ps. xcv. 5:
"The sea is his, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry
land. 6. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before
the Lord our Maker: 7. For he is our God, and we are the people of
his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."

Ps. c. 3:
"Know ye that the Lord he is God, it is he that hath made us, and
not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his
pasture."

Ezek. xviii.
4: "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also
the soul of the son is mine; the soul that sinneth it shall die."

Rom. xiv. 8:
"For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die,
we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are
the Lord's."

(3.) Again:
God claims to have established the natural or physical laws of the
universe.

Job xxxviii.
33. "Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the
dominion thereof in the earth?"

Ps. cxix. 90:
"Thy faithfulness is unto all generations, thou hast established
the earth, and it abideth. 91. They continue this day according to
thine ordinances, for all are thy servants."

Prov. iii.
19: "The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, by understanding
hath he established the heavens. 20. By his knowledge the depths
are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew."

Jer. xxxi.
35: "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day,
and the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when
the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is his name."

Jer. xxxiii.
25: "Thus saith the Lord, if my covenant be not with day and
night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and
earth; 26. Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my
servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over
the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will cause their
captivity to return, and have mercy on them."

(4.) God
claims the right to exercise supreme authority.

Exod. xx. 23:
"Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make
unto you gods of gold."

1 Chron.
xxix. 11: "Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the
glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the
heaven and the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and
thou art exalted as head above all."

Ps. xlvii. 7:
"For God is the king of all the earth, sing ye praises with
understanding."

Matt. xxii.
37: "Jesus saith unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."

(5.) God
claims the right to exercise his own discretion in using such
means, and in exerting such an agency as will secure the
regeneration of men, or not, as it appears wise to him.

Deut. xxix.
4: "Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes
to see, and ears to hear, unto this day."

Jer. v. 14:
"Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this
word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this
people wood, and it shall devour them."

Matt. xiii.
10: "And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou
to them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is
given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but
to them it is not given."

Matt. xx. 15,
16: "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is
thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first, and
the first last: for many be called, but few chosen."

Mark iv. 11:
"And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these
things are done in parables: 12. That seeing they may see, and not
perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at
any time they should be converted, and their sins should be
forgiven them."

Rom. ix. 22:
"What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power
known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction. 23. And that he might make known the riches
of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared
unto glory."

2. Tim. ii.
25: "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God
peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the
truth."

(6.) God
claims the right to try his creatures by means of temptation.

Deut. xiii.
1: "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams,
and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2. And the sign or the wonder
come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, let us go after
other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3.
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know
whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul."

1 Kings xxii.
20: "And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up
and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and
another said on that manner. 21. And there came forth a spirit,
and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. 22. And
the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth,
and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And
he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also; go forth, and
do so."

Job ii. 3.
"And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant
Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an
upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still
he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against
him, to destroy him without cause. 7. So went Satan forth from the
presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils, from the sole
of his foot unto his crown."

Matt. iv. 1:
"Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil."

(7.) God also
claims the right to exercise his own discretion in so arranging
the affairs of his government as to control the hearts of men, not
necessarily, but through the exercise of their own liberty.

1 Sam. xxvi.
19. "Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the
words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me,
let him accept an offering; but if they be the children of men,
cursed be they before the Lord, for they have driven me out this
day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve
other gods."

Ps. xxxiii.
14: "From the place of his habitation he looked upon all the
inhabitants of the earth. 15. He fashioneth their hearts alike; he
considereth all their works."

Is. xlv. 9:
"Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd
strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him
that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no
hands?"

Rom. ix. 20:
"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me
thus? 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same
lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto
dishonour.[?]"

(8.) God also
claims the right to use all creatures, and to dispose of all
creatures and events, so as to fulfil his own designs.

2 Sam. vii.
14. "I will be his father, and he shall be my son; if he commit
iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the
stripes of the children of men."

2 Kings v. 1:
"Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria was a great
man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had
given deliverance unto Syria; he was also a mighty man in valor,
but he was a leper."

1 Chron. vi.
15: "And Jehozadak went into captivity, when the Lord carried away
Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar."

Job i. 15:
"And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they
have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I am
escaped alone to tell thee. 17. While he was yet speaking, there
came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands,
and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away; yea, and
slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am
escaped to tell thee. And Job said, Naked came I out of my
mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Ps. xvii. 13:
"Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down; deliver my soul
from the wicked, which is thy sword, from men which are thy hand,
O Lord."

Isa. x. 5: "O
Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is
mine indignation: 6. I will send him against an hypocritical
nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him charge,
to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down
like the mire of the streets. 7. Howbeit he meaneth not so,
neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy
and cut off nations not a few. 12. Wherefore it shall come to
pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount
Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart
of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 15. Shall
the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall
the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod
should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the
staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood."

Jer. xxvii.
8: "And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which
will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and
that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of
Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the
sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have
consumed them by his hand."

Ezek. xxiv.
14: "And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my
people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger,
and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith
the Lord God."

Hab. i. 6:
"For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation,
which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the
dwelling-places that are not theirs. 12. Art thou not from
everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die, O
Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and O mighty God, thou
hast established them for correction."

(9.) God
claims the right to take the life of his sinful subjects at his
own discretion.

Gen. xxii. 2:
"And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou
lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there
for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell
thee of."

Deut. xx. 16:
"But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth
give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that
breatheth. 17. But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the
Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites,
the Hivites, and the Jebuzites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded
thee: 18. That they teach you not to do after all their
abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye
sin against the Lord your God."

1 Sam. xv. 3:
"Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have,
and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and
suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."

(10.) God
also claims the right to employ wicked rulers and instruments as
his own rod, and scourge, to chastise individuals and nations for
their wickedness.

1 Kings xix.
15: "And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the
wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be
king over Syria."

2 Kings viii,
12: "And Hazael said, Why weepeth, my Lord? And he answered,
Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of
Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young
men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children,
and rip up their women with child."

Ezek. xx. 24:
"Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my
statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after
their fathers' idols. 25. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that
were not good, and judgments whereby they should not
live.[;] 26. And I polluted them in their own gifts, in
that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the
womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might
know that I am the Lord."

Dan. iv. 17.
"This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by
the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to
whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men."

Hos. xiii.
11: "I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my
wrath."

(11.) God
furthermore claims the sole prerogative of executing vengeance on
the wicked.

Rom. xii. 12:
"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto
wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith
the Lord."

Deut. xxxii.
35. "To me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their feet shall
slide in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and
the things that shall come upon them make haste. 36. For the Lord
shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when
he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or
left. 39. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with
me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is
there any that can deliver out of my hand. 40. For I lift up my
hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. 41. If I whet my
glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will
render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate
me. 42. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword
shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain, and of
the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. 43.
Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people; for he will avenge the
blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his
adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his
people."

(12.) God
declares that he will maintain his own sovereignty.

Isa. xlii. 8.
"I am the Lord; that is my name: and my glory will I not give to
another, neither my praise to graven images."

Isa. xlviii.
11. "For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for
how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto
another."

These
passages will disclose the general tenour of scripture upon this
subject.

REMARKS.

1. The
Sovereignty of God is an infinitely amiable, sweet, holy, and
desirable sovereignty. Some seem to conceive of it as if it were
revolting and tyrannical. But it is the infinite opposite of this,
and is the perfection of all that is reasonable, kind and good.

Isa. lvii.
15. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is holy: I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite
ones. 16. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be
always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls
which I have made. 17. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I
wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on
frowardly in the way of his heart. 18. I have seen his ways, and
will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto
him, and to his mourners. 19. I create the fruit of the lips;
Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near,
saith the Lord; and I will heal him."

2. Many seem
afraid to think or speak of God's sovereignty, and even pass over,
with a very slight reading, those passages of scripture that so
fully declare it. They think it unwise and dangerous to preach
upon the subject, especially unless it be to deny or explain away
the sovereignty of God. This fear in pious minds has no doubt
originated in a misconception of the nature of this sovereignty.
They have been led either by false teaching, or in some way, to
conceive of the divine sovereignty as an iron and unreasonable
despotism. That is, they have understood the doctrine of divine
sovereignty to so represent God. They therefore fear and reject
it. But let it be remembered and for ever understood, to the
eternal joy and unspeakable consolation of all holy beings, that
God's sovereignty is nothing else than infinite love directed by
infinite knowledge, in such a disposal of events as to secure the
highest well-being of the universe; that, in the whole details of
creation, providence and grace, there is not a solitary measure of
his that is not infinitely wise and good.

3. A proper
understanding of God's universal agency and sovereignty, of the
perfect wisdom and benevolence of every measure of his government,
providential and moral, is essential to the best improvement of
all his dispensations toward us, and to those around us. When it
is understood, that God's hand is directly or indirectly in
everything that occurs, and that he is infinitely wise and good,
and equally wise and good in every single dispensation--that he
has one end steadily and always in view--that he does all for one
and the same ultimate end--and that this end is the highest good
of himself and of universal being;--I say, when these things are
understood and considered, there is a divine sweetness in all his
dispensations. There is then a divine reasonableness, and
amiableness, and kindness, thrown like a broad mantle of infinite
love over all his character, works and ways. The soul, in
contemplating such a sacred, universal, holy sovereignty, takes on
a sweet smile of delightful complacency, and feels secure, and
reposes in perfect peace, surrounded and supported by the
everlasting arms.

4. Many
entertain most ruinous conceptions of divine sovereignty. They
manifestly conceive of it as proceeding wholly independent of law,
and of second causes, or means. They often are heard to use
language that implies this. They say, "if it is God's will you
cannot hinder it. If God has begun the work, he will accomplish
it." In fact, their language means nothing, unless they assume
that in the dispensation of grace all is miracle. They often
represent a thing as manifestly from God, or as providential,
because it was, or appeared to be, so disconnected with
appropriate means and instrumentalities. In other words it was
quite miraculous.

Now, I
suppose, that God's sovereignty manifests itself through and by
means, or second causes, and appropriate instrumentalities. God is
as much a sovereign in the kingdom of nature as of grace. Suppose
farmers, mechanics, and shopkeepers should adopt, in practice,
this absurd view of divine sovereignty of which I am speaking?
Why, they would succeed about as well in raising crops and in
transacting business, as those Christians and ministers who apply
their views of sovereignty to spiritual matters, do in saving
souls.

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